Diverticulosis is an unfortunately common condition in which an area of the intestine bulges out into the peritoneal cavity to form a sac referred to as a “diverticulum”. Diverticulum are also formed when a point of weakness in the intestinal wall, e.g., where blood vessels take their entry, causes the muscular structure to divide and allows part of the inner mucosal membrane to be pushed out of the hole into the peritoneal cavity and become filled with fecal matter. Diverticulum may also be present in other parts of the gastrointestinal tract such as the esophagus or the duodenum. A burst or leaky diverticulum results in the release of contaminants into the peritoneal cavity, potentially causing peritonitis.
A natural orifice-based method for resolving diverticulum is disclosed in the present assignee's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/788,597, filed Apr. 20, 2007, incorporated herein by reference. As understood herein, a diverticulum may be inverted into the bowel and tied off and either resected into a tube or allowed to slough off using natural orifice principles to avoid the complications inherent in other surgical methods. As further understood herein, for optimal closing the inverted diverticulum ideally is closed off serosa to serosa. As still further recognized by present principles, a diverticulum preferably is tightly and securely held closed off to alleviate the risk of peritonitis.